Willoughby Avenue - KOLUMN Magazine

How Kwame Nkrumah used metaphor as a political weapon against colonialism | The Conversation

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020African History, Ghana

Kwame Nkrumah (1912-1972), a pioneering pan-Africanist and Ghana’s independence leader (1957-1966), is regarded by many as one of Africa’s greatest politicians . [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Commentators, historians and scholars have given him accolades such as ‘the Black Star’, ‘Africa’s Man of Destiny’ and ‘the Pride of Africa’. Twenty years ago, the BBC’s African listeners voted him […]

Ella Baker’s Legacy Runs Deep. Know Her Name. | The New York Times

January 21, 2020January 27, 2020African American Activist, African American History

Her fighting spirit lives on in today’s social movements. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1964, he observed that anytime an award is given to “the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into […]

The chilling details of Patrice Lumumba’s assassination and how he was dissolved in acid | Face2Face Africa

January 19, 2020January 19, 2020African American Athletes, African History

Since January 17, 1961, no one has been held accountable for the brutal murder of Congo’s independence leader and first prime minister Patrice Lumumba who was shot dead with two of his ministers, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] However, all fingers point to multinational perpetrators who sanctioned the elimination of one of Africa’s […]

Jay-Z goes to bat for Mississippi prisoners and files federal lawsuit | NBC News

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020KOLUMN Magazine

The rap mogul had warned Mississippi officials he was “prepared to pursue all potential avenues.” [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Rap mogul Jay-Z sued the head of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and the warden of the state penitentiary Tuesday on behalf of 29 prisoners who say the two officials have done nothing to stop the violence that […]

The Unequal Financial Burden for Black Caregivers | OZY

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020African American Economics

Carlo St. Juste Jr. is on his way to bring his mother to a hospital appointment when he takes OZY’s call. A part-time acupuncturist and businessman, St. Juste is also the primary caregiver for his 69-year-old mom, who suffers from chronic kidney disease and diabetes. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] “I’ve organized my time so I can do […]

Why Aesha Ash is Wandering Around Inner City Rochester in a Tutu | Dance Magazine

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020African American Art, Ballet

Growing up in inner city Rochester, NY, Aesha Ash was just one of the neighborhood kids. She’d imagine people driving by, judging her by her black skin. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] “They’d never know that I was dreaming of becoming a professional ballet dancer. No one would think, Some day she’s going to make it into New […]

Exclusive: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Reveals Beautiful Bald Head and Discusses Alopecia for the First Time | The Root

January 17, 2020January 17, 2020African American Health

“I think it’s important that I’m transparent about this new normal,…” [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Ayanna Pressley loves playing with her hair. Before she became a Massachusetts Congresswoman (and a high-profile member of “The Squad”), Pressley would experiment with different hairstyles and textures, getting a weave and even cutting her own hair. Lately, she’s been experimenting with […]

How Ghana’s historic homecoming is changing Africa | CNN

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020Ghana

(CNN) — It’s the last Saturday of the year in the heart of Accra, Ghana’s capital. The air is thick with the anticipation of the thousands of revelers who have swarmed the gates of El Wak Stadium to take part in an annual celebration of African culture known as Afrochella. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Inside it’s a […]

When Minneapolis Segregated | City Lab

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020African American History, Race Relations

In the early 1900s, racial housing covenants in the Minnesota city blocked home sales to minorities, establishing patterns of inequality that persist today. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] Before it was torn apart by freeway construction in the middle of the 20th century, the Near North neighborhood in Minneapolis was home to the city’s largest concentration of African […]

I am not ‘non-white’ | Daily Kos

January 15, 2020January 15, 2020African American Activist

I’m black. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″] I’ve been black, and proud to be black, my whole life. My parents raised me like that. They grew up as ‘Negroes.’ They had to drink at water fountains labeled ‘colored.’ They lived long enough to become Afro-Americans, and then African Americans. I was, and still am, militantly black. I’ve lived […]